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Kiddy Land (キデイランド) in Harajuku (原宿) features six stories worth of toys you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the world. My kids were in heaven and could have easily spent the rest of their lives in the place. Luckily they closed at 9 and kicked us out.
To get there, as you head out of Harajuku station (原宿駅) go straight down the main street, Omotesando (表参道), and it will be on your right.
Ueno Park (上野公園) in Tokyo is famous for its cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, we were a bit too early (in late March) to see many. Another week or two and this road would have been really spectacular. The fact that there weren’t many blossoms didn’t seem to deter the Japanese from having all sorts of hanami (花見, flower viewing) parties.
If you look closely at this picture (maybe after clicking on it so it becomes larger) you’ll see hundreds of bins for recycling on either side of this road. It’s rare that you see trash bins in Japan even though things are cleaner than just about any place on earth. But in Ueno Park during the hanami season there are more recycling bins than anywhere I’ve seen before.
The sign on the lower right says そう資源 別ゴミ箱 which means something like “preserve our natural resources by separating garbage into the different bins.” On the lower left it says カン (cans) and 生ゴミ (living garbage, like banana peels, etc.)
I should also mention that the above picture was taken at about 10 a.m. in the morning. Imagine the number of people in the afternoon and evening when the blossoms are going crazy!
Otherwise known, in English, as the Walk of Philosophy, The Philosopher’s Path, or The Philosopher’s Walk (哲学の道 or tetsugaku no michi), this is a small path beside a canal between Ginkakuji (The Silver Pavilion) and the Nanzenji area of Kyoto.
Early in April you will see many cherry blossoms along this path. We purchased some hand-painted postcards from an artist immediately after she painted them along the path. They hang in a frame in my bathroom where I am happily reminded of this path on a daily basis.
Seibu won game 6 to force a 7th and deciding game on Sunday for the Japan Series. It doesn’t get any more exciting than this baseball fans!
Each year in Japan, each team picks a new slogan (I guess you would call it). Some are in English, or more commonly Engrish, but others are in Japanese. Last year the Lions had one in Japanese as you can see above: 心を,ひとつに。力を,ひとつに。 That translates into something like “With one heart, with one power… (let’s do this thing!)” And that’s what they need to do tomorrow night!
I went to the official website of the Lions to see what their slogan or motto was for this year. It looks like they chose the classic Engrish phrase “i believe lions.” for 2008. Oh well, last year’s wasn’t bad.
While on the site I learned that they have renamed the team from simply the Seibu Lions to the Saitama Seibu Lions. Saitama is the prefecture (sort of like the state or county if you are wondering what a prefecture is) where the Lions play their home games. I wonder if this was something like what we had with the Angels in the states going from being the California Angels to the Los Angeles Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim within a few years.
Maybe they will be called the Saitama Lions of Tokorozawa next year. I used to live in Tokorozawa (near the 西所沢駅), a mere 10 minute bike ride from the stadium. Oh, the memories…
With Thursday’s victory the Tokyo Giants have taken a 3 games to 2 lead in the Japan Series. The final two games move back to the heart of Tokyo and will be held on Saturday and Sunday. The Seibu Lions have to win both to win the series.
Let’s all hope that the Giants can lose two in a row at home and not crush the above little boy’s hopes and dreams.
